Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
by VTPM
Summary: They were talking about her, but she blanked out their words. The shocked whispers, the accusing glares, the students' grins at that thought of the reward discussed in class- The video came to mind then, too. Is it true that the government experiments on the captured Ajin? Suddenly, she wasn't sure she quite believed her teacher's answer or what she'd once believed herself.
1. Chapter 1

_Unintelligible murmuring, far away. Obscenely bright lights. Can't see. Sledgehammer to the chest. Can't breathe. Can't hear. Can't focus. Can't scream. Won't scream._

There was a pause of the rushing thoughts in his head, leaving a tranquil silence filled only with a dull throbbing that seemed to radiate through his entire body. He blinked lethargically at the stabbing white light directly above him, feeling his conscious return enough to try moving, though he seemed to not have gained control of his muscles yet.

They seemed to know when his mind was back again; they always did, and a sense of panic washed over him at the sound of what he was sure was some sort of power tool. He closed his eyes.

 _Saw blade. Jagged teeth. Tearing through flesh. Slashing through bones. His ribs, the unbroken, shattered. Whirring cacophony in his ears. Drowning everything. Existence itself._

He couldn't tell if it had been a second or an hour that the saw was shredding him, and frankly he didn't want to know. He cracked one eye open, blankly staring at the lights, unseeing. Through the buzz of noise ringing in his head, he heard one voice just distinctly enough to understand the words.

"Alright, time for a break."

The relief was instant and nearly overpowering. He closed his eyes and managed a weak smile just before the knife blade sunk into his heart.

* * *

The day was warm and pleasant, and she was grateful for it. It was _that day_ again, and anything that could help improve her mood was more than welcomed.

Mirai stood in front of the grave, head empty of thoughts but full of grief for the father she never knew.

 _Asuma Sarutobi: A Hero of Konoha_ was engraved on the stone, and she swallowed the lump rising in her throat. Usually she could stay positive about the situation; be content with calling him a hero of Japan and be proud of him, of his sacrifice. But not today. Not on September 8th. That was the day she grieved, the day he'd lost his life 17 years ago.

The cemetery was empty this early in the morning, but she kept her voice quiet when she murmured, "I'll make you proud, Father.. And Mother too.. Today and every day for the rest of my life.. I hope you're watching over me.. You are, aren't you..?"

The stone gave no answer; the wind didn't rise, no leaves fell. The air was painfully still and silent as if in a void. It wasn't the comfort or sign she'd been looking for.

Feeling a vague sense of unfounded frustration growing in her, Mirai vowed, "I'll avenge you, I promise.. I'll kill the bastard that did this to you, no matter what it takes.."

No wind, no leaf, no sound.

She turned and started in the direction of school.

* * *

Mirai sat in the front of the History classroom, resisting the urge to yawn and hoping her boredom wasn't shown on her face.

It was all things she'd heard a thousand times, whether in or out of school. Everyone else seemed just as bored as her.

"As I'm sure most of you know, there are 46 known Ajin in the world, two of which are in Japan, and are currently being held in a government facility, safely away from the public. It is a necessity, as Ajin extremely dangerous beings to our society. And to make matters worse, they are immortal, and can be nearly impossible to stop without military action. Next-"

Mirai stopped listening when the teacher showed a projection on the board and turned his back to the class, letting her gaze wander the room until her attention was caught by two students watching something with unconcealed delight on one's phone. She couldn't see the screen, but she got enough of an idea by overhearing their whispering.

"Do you think it's real?"

"It _looks_ real. They just emptied a clip into his head and he's still moving!"

"It might just be someone getting fancy with their computers again.. You know most videos on Ajin .net are faked. But this one _really_ looks like it might be.."

She stopped listening to them too, looking back to the front of the room with an impassive expression. The one student was right; everyone knew Ajin .net was famous for it's 'leaked' government footage of experiments on Ajin. Nothing on it had every been proved real, and plenty had been proved fake. The government denied ever experimenting on any Ajin.

The teacher's voice came back to her: "Does anyone have any questions?"

She had plenty, on how to beat them, how to kill them, how they became what they are, why they had to kill people- But she couldn't ask these things. She wasn't even convinced the teacher knew those answers anyways. She kept silent.

One of the students who had been watching the video raised his hand then and was called on.

"Is it true that the government experiments on the captured Ajin?"

The teacher snorted incredulously and shook his head. "No, of course not. The government has assured us no harm comes to the captured Ajin. They are simply kept where they will not interfere with the public. All reports of evidence of torturing Ajin have been proven to be faked and edited."

The student looked disappointed and dissatisfied, but slumped back in his seat without pressing further.

Another student on the other side of the room stood and without waiting to be called on asked, "Doesn't anyone who turns an Ajin in to the government get a huge reward?"

Murmuring broke out around the class room, and the teacher cleared his throat for silence. "Yes, it's true. The military and probably some news stations offer rewards for any aid or reports of Ajin that the public give them. It is dangerous to call out an Ajin, so the money is a good incentive to get people willing to help."

The bell rang then, and the students rushed out of the classroom to the hallway, all chatting animatedly amongst themselves.

Mirai wasn't shocked; nobody had ever asked those kinds of questions about Ajin in school before, so no wonder everyone was so worked up about it.

It was lunch break next, so she dumped off her bag at her locker and made her way to cafeteria, finding a quiet corner to sit by herself with her bagged lunch. She didn't really want to deal with anyone else and their obnoxious noisiness today.

Bored and mildly curious, she pulled out her phone and went to Ajin .net. She knew the video was fake, but she couldn't help wanting to check for herself.

The video was in black and white, and the angle was from a little to the side and above, hiding the face of the older man who stood with a gun in his hand. Directly across from him, and what the video angle had centered, was a surgical table that was tilted vertically, and had a slight figure that was still distinctly male wrapped in bandages from head to toe, to the point none of his skin showed. The number 001 were drawn in what looked like permanent marker across the bandages covering his face.

The older man raised his arm with the gun and pointed it at his head.

The 'Ajin' didn't struggle.

He pulled the trigger.

A splatter of dark liquid came from the wound, staining the bandages, streaming down the surgical table, spattering on the floor.

He pulled the trigger again. And again. And again.

Over and over.

There was no volume.

There was no gun shots.

There was no screaming.

The figure was limp after every bullet, but just before the next one went into his head, he shifted and started to weakly struggle against his bindings, then stopped again at the next head shot.

It looked real, it really did, and she wasn't sure how she felt.

 _That must hurt so much.._

 _He deserves it._

 _Being shot in the head like that.._

 _He killed so many people._

Mirai shut down her phone and sighed, not sure she felt like eating anymore. Of all days for a video like this to come out, she wished it hadn't been today.

* * *

The day was still clear and pleasant when school was over, and the sky was a beautiful orange overhead. It helped her feel more relaxed, looking up at the soothing sunset.

A small breeze started up, and she closed her eyes, enjoying the cool wind passing through her short black hair.

Why couldn't it have been like this at the cemetery?

The tranquility she felt, it became broken, disjointed, a feeling of fear spreading through her body from her chest. Heavy. Crushing. Suffocating.

The sound of birds chirping, passerby's talking, and traffic vanished, and all she heard was the screeching of tires, the only sound in her world.

 _Crimson eyes opened. Pupils dilated. Vision filled with metal and headlights. Mind blank._

The car that had lost control was on the sidewalk with her, and there wasn't time to react, let alone move.

The collision was instantaneous. Bones shattered, flesh tore, blood everywhere.

 _This is the end._

Her eyes opened.

She was under the car, it stopped when it collided head-on with a street lamp.

She felt everything, the agony was horrible, but she moved, started to pick herself up as bones shifted back into place and skin knitted back together. Black sand was surrounding her and she had no idea where it had come from.

Mirai stood, and stared back at the shocked faces that were surrounding her from a distance, feeling like she was in a dream.

Something was horribly wrong.

The things she'd learned from her studies of Ajin came racing to mind.

 _Immortal. Heal quickly. Indestructible. Dangerous. Unstoppable. Murderers. Not human._

"No," she whispered. Her body was shaking.

They were talking about her, she could hear, but she blanked out their words. The shocked whispers, the accusing glares, the students' grins at that thought of the reward discussed in class-

The video came to mind then, too.

 _Is it true that the government experiments on the captured Ajin?_

Suddenly, she wasn't sure she quite believed her teacher's answer, or the things she'd always believed herself.

The pressure of the fear and horror became completely unbearable in her chest, and she screamed. It sounded different; ringing, hollow, mechanical.

The world froze, everything but her. She didn't understand it at all, but the sirens in the distance was enough incentive to use the opportunity, and she fled in the opposite direction of the shrieking sound, heading for a forest she used to play in as a child all the time.

Mirai's throat constricted as the gravity of the situation kept trying to sink in, but she pushed it away, focusing only on running.

She made it to the cover of the woods without any trouble, and slumped against a tree, burying her face in her hands. She was shaking, and it was so _difficult_ to hold back her tears. But she wouldn't cry, she wouldn't.

 _What do I do?_ she thought. _What can I do?_

 _I need help._

Mirai pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, feeling hope diminish when none popped out to her.

 _I can't call Mother.. Shika? Naruto? Kakashi?_

 _No.._

 _Ino? Choji? Kiba? Shino? Tenten?_

 _No.._

She needed help so bad, but the thought of getting her loved ones involved, when if they helped her would certainly get them in so much trouble, she couldn't do that.

 _I'll call Shika.. I'll just ask him what I should do.. I won't get him involved; no one else will ever know.. I just need someone to tell me what to do.._

She called, and felt increasingly sick with each ring that passed. Vaguely she remembered he was part of the police force and wondered if calling him had been a bad choice, but she pushed it aside, as the call went through then.

"Mirai? What's going on? What happened?"

 _He already knew._

Swallowing thickly, she said in a weak voice, "I don't know.. Something's wrong.. What should I do..?"

Shikamaru sighed before answering, "I don't really know.. This isn't a situation I've exactly had to deal with before.." He paused for a moment before continuing. "For now, just try to run and stay hidden. Stay away from anywhere public or with people, and don't let the police catch you. I'll try to buy some time, but I can't promise anything.."

"Alright," She agreed, glad to have been given instructions and knowing he was still on her side in all of this.

 _Asuma meant so much to him, too._

 _It would be so easy for him to turn me in._

"Just stay safe, Mirai. I'll do whatever I can to get this sorted out, alright?"

"Yeah, I will.. Thank you Shika.." Mirai ended the call and took a deep breath to get her bearings, then stood and slipped her phone back in her pocket before taking off further into the woods.

If the police did find me, what would happen? Would they shoot me? Asuma was on their force, they would know who I am, right? They wouldn't try to kill me, would they? Would they send me to the government holding facilities? Is that video real?

Mirai did her best to ignore the thoughts racing in her mind and focused on getting as much distance between herself and the town as she could.

The forest was quiet, and getting darker as the sun slid behind the horizon, the sky bleeding out the last of it's colors in favor of an endless black expanse, only a few stars speckling it all far between.

The other edge of the forest came into view ans she sighed in relief at seeing a small gas station with a motorcycle parked outside. Someone had even left the helmet on the seat, obviously not planning on being there long.

She was hesitant to approach the bright lights around the outside of the store, and the road on the other side of the building, but she didn't have much time if she wanted to get her hands on a vehicle. And at the moment, it was more of a need than a want.

Mirai sprinted out of the cover of the trees and went straight for the motorcycle, covering the distance over the grass and asphalt fasted than she could ever remember running before.

After a quick glance through the window of the store, she saw no one was looking and pulled on the helmet, then climbed onto the motorcycle and turned it on, feeling a rush of gratitude toward Temari for taking her for rides on her motorcycle and teaching her the basics of driving them.

A yell of alarm from inside the store sounded when she turned on the bike and revved it, and it was enough to get her to tear out of the station like a bat out of hell as the owner flung open the door to try and stop her. Luckily she was pretty sure she'd been fast enough for him to not have seen her face or bloodied clothes. She hoped so, anyways.

A small stab of guilt hit her for stealing the bike after a few minutes of speeding down the road, but she shook her head.

 _I needed to,_ she told herself resolutely. _I just didn't have a choice._

Find somewhere far away to hide. That's all that matters right now.

Finding she just had to be satisfied with that for the moment, she pushed all other thoughts trying to invade her conscious away, and for the next three hours, she was blissfully unaware of anything but roar of the engine and rushing of the wind around her as she raced down the nearly abandoned road.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright, I think that should do it."

He let himself relax finally, leaning his head back against the cool metal of the surgical table as the bindings were removed, and he could stand wobbly on the concrete floor. He pulled the bandages away from his face, letting them fall loosely around his neck, and took a deep breath before opening his eyes. Luckily the lights weren't very bright, and didn't cause his eyes any discomfort, though he didn't quite care for the feeling of his bangs being plastered to his forehead by the blood from the bullets.

He didn't pay it any mind though, instead looking toward the older black haired man with a blank expression, watching with concealed curiosity, wondering what he was planning on doing with the video.

The other seemed to notice his gaze and glanced up at him, giving a twisted smile. "This tape will help us quite a bit. All we have to do is upload it to Ajin .net and wait for word to spread."

"Are you sure that is wise? No one really takes anything on there seriously, you know. Not with all the fakes there."

"Yeah, but this is the real deal. People will realize that," He paused and gave him a slighter wider smirk. "Ajin will realize that."

* * *

Hues of blue, pink, and orange filled the sky, though Mirai couldn't find herself capable of admiring it as she usually would have. She'd found an overgrown, abandoned private drive and had barely manage to make it around the rusted gate to find a small, single roomed concrete building. It looked like it had been some sort of storage unit, but hadn't been used in years, with only a few moldy cardboard boxes and rotted wooden crates inside.

The windows were cracked and broken, though the temperature was still fairly warm, so it wasn't a problem. It wasn't raining either, so the cracks in the roof, floor, and walls, and the gap under the tilted door that no longer closed properly hadn't made itself an issue either when she'd spent the night there on the cold floor.

Behind the building, she'd hidden the motorcycle, some of the wild foliage helping hide it just a bit further from view in case someone was in the nearby area.

She was hungry, she needed a change of clothes, and she needed somewhere safe to lay low for a while, but she wasn't quite sure where would be safe enough for her to get those things. She wanted to call Shikamaru again, but knew it would only give away her temporary hiding spot; they could easily track her cell phone right to her.

Mirai sighed and dropped her head into her hands, leaning back against the wall she was seated by. All of this was really starting to add up to a headache, trying to figure this impossible situation out by herself.

 _I'll just have to manage it, somehow_..

A sudden harsh ringing broke into her thoughts then and she pulled her phone out of her pocket, about to deny the call when the Caller ID caught her attention.

Hitting the green button, she put the phone to her ear and quickly said, "Shikadai, now isn't a good time. You can't call me on this phone-"

Her voice caught in her throat when an unfamiliar voice cut her off, "Sorry, this isn't Shikadai."

Feeling a wave of panic and nausea grip her, she hissed, "Who are you? Why do you have Shikadai's phone?!"

"I'm waiting by an isolated shrine in the mountain's to the North; shouldn't be too far from you, or difficult to find. I'll tell you there."

* * *

He couldn't even hear himself think over the noise of talking, phones ringing, rustling papers, and people rushing back and forth around the station. He'd found the quietest corner he could to sit in and pressed his finger tips together, brow furrowed in concentration.

 _What am I supposed to do about this mess? No one's going to listen to me if I tell them to give up searching for an Ajin.. Especially not after what I saw happen in Africa.. So how do I protect Mirai from them..?_

At first he ignored the extra buzzing noise he heard and dismissed it as just another phone in the station, though after a few moments, Shikamaru registered it as his own and cracked an eye open.

 _What a drag.. Does she really have to call at a time like this..?_

Sighing, he pulled it out of his pocket and held it to his ear. "Temari, now's really a bad time, so whatever it is will just have to wait-"

"Bullshit!" she snapped, immediately silencing him. "Shikadai never came home from school today!"

"He's probably just off with some friends, there's no need-"

"Don't you think I thought of that?! I already called everyone else; all their kids are home and Shikadai's not with them! None of them walked home with him either! And he would never sneak off to do anything like this. He won't answer his cell phone either. He's missing!"

He felt a sense of unease creeping up on and bit his lip. "Alright. I'll see what I can do. Just try to stay calm."

Shikamaru hung up and leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling.

 _I guess this gives me a way to direct their attention away from Mirai._.

His gaze slid sideways toward the captain when her phone rang, and after a short conversation that didn't last even a minute, she hung up and yelled, "Double, no, triple our men! The Ajin needs to be captured immediately!"

 _Or maybe not_..

* * *

"How much longer until we get to Konoha?"

"We should be there in about ten minutes."

"Can you go any faster?"

She glanced at the man in the passenger seat with a concerned expression, though his gaze was focused out the windshield and he didn't notice. She looked back to the road as well and replied monotonously, "I'm already going as fast as the speed limit allows. Going any faster would be too dangerous."

He didn't respond to that, and a heavy silence hung in the air the rest of the drive. She'd barely come to a complete stop outside the police station when the passenger door opened, and her partner was already making a bee-line for the door. She shifted the car into park, took the key out of the ignition and rushed to catch up to him just as he'd begun introductions with the captain.

"Ah, Uzumaki Nagato, I assume? Thank you for coming on such short notice," the captain said, her voice sounding as a distinct mix between authoritative and forced pleasantness, with a well hidden undertone of strain.

"Of course, Lady Tsunade. This is a situation that needs to be handled immediately," Nagato replied, exchanging a hand shake before gesturing to his partner. "Lady Tsunade, this is my partner Konan. We've worked together for several years on the capture of Ajin."

Konan stepped forward and shook Tsunade's hand as well, murmuring a quiet greeting before stepping back and allowing Nagato to discuss terms and strategies with the captain.

She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end at the feeling of eyes boring into her back, and put on a stony expression before glancing over her shoulder.

A man was staring at her steadily through partially narrowed eyes. He was sitting in a chair leaning forward slightly, fingertips pressed together in a sort of meditative way. She didn't recognize him and soon looked away. There hadn't been any noticeable hostility in his expression, more of a guarded or weary look. She doubted he would cause them any problems, but she kept her guard up just in case.

* * *

The roaring of the engine was almost unbearably loud, but Mirai hardly heard it, her mind entirely focused on going as fast as she could without crashing.

 _I swear if anything has happened to Shikadai._.

Her grip tightened on the handle bars, and she accelerated just a little more. The shrine was only a few more miles away, and it didn't take long for her to cover the distance, though to her it felt like an eternity before the nearly overgrown path came into view.

She slowed the vehicle down and turned onto it, carefully creeping down the drive and peering through the trees for anyone who might be in the surrounding forest waiting to ambush her. She didn't notice anything out of place, and soon the shrine was in view.

Mirai stopped the motorcycle a little ways down the road and got off, leaving the helmet on the seat as she covered the last bit of the distance on foot.

There were two people waiting outside for her, and they looked up expectantly as she approached them.

One was an older man with short black hair, an 'X' scar on his chin, and bandages over his right eye. He seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't quite place where at the moment.

The other was a man who didn't look much older than herself. He had long black hair with bangs that framed the sides of his face while the rest was pulled back into a loose ponytail, and he had unnerving, bright red eyes.

Mirai felt her pulse quicken, but swallowed back her fear, and demanded, "Where's Shikadai? What did you do to him?"

The older man gave a cold smile. "Don't worry, no harm has come to him. In fact, we've already being sent back to Konoha at this very moment. We just needed a good reason for you to come meet us. We have some things to discuss."

"Let me guess, you want to turn me in to the police, right?" she hissed, taking a wary step back and preparing to make a run for the bike.

He snorted in amusement and shook his head. "Of course not. We want to protect you. We're both Ajin ourselves, in fact."

That's when it clicked for her, and Mirai's eyes widened. _The video._.

"You were the two in that video, from Ajin .net! That was actually real?" _If you're an Ajin, why did you shoot the other guy and put it on there..?_

"Yes, it was real. We needed to get the truth out of what happens to Ajin who are captured by the government. Getting true footage from a government building would be too difficult, so we did the next best thing.. Oh, though we haven't been properly introduced yet, have we? My name is Danzo, and this is Itachi," Danzo said, and something about how he seemed to be looking past her over her shoulder unsettled her greatly, but before she could turn to see what it was, she felt a needle bury itself in the back of her neck. Shocked, she instinctively turned to see where it had come from but her vision was too faded and warped to see a thing.

She couldn't even feel her body hit the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

Everything was in slow motion. Every moment was an eternity, staring into florescent lights, mind void of clear thoughts.

She blinked, and was plunged into a horrifying darkness for so much longer than she had expected. Even if it only taken a fraction of a second before she opened her eyes again, it felt as if her eyes had adjusted to the dark, and her retinas burned at the harsh light.

There was movement around her she was finally aware of. Words smudged together. Incessant beeping overpowered it next to her left ear. It was all she could make sense of in the sea of meaningless sound, and it brought her a strange form of comfort.

The tranquilizer seemed to wear off not much longer, and her surroundings became much more focused. She couldn't move; her entire body bound to a cold table and covered in bandages, there were people in whites scrubs and blue face masks, to her left was a vitals monitor; to her right was various blades, guns, tools..

Mirai felt her throat constrict and suddenly breathing was extremely difficult. The beeping in her ear quickened.

"Alright, she's finally conscience. Let's begin," one of the doctor's said, moving around from the monitors to the table covered in various instruments, and picking up a saw.

One of the other's spoke up, "We'll begin with removing her arm, and seeing her speed of recovery, then analyze the DNA structuring of her new arm compared to the original."

"Please no," she whispered, but they must not have heard through the gauze covering her mouth. She told herself that was the reason the saw tore through her flesh and bone in the next minute.

Mirai screamed and thrashed, but they looked unfazed and placed the severed limb in a sterile bag before picking up a new blade; another part for their mechanism of agony.

They continued poking, prodding, cutting, and breaking for about 20 minutes. Every heartbeat was a lifetime. They started out quick and fleeting, blurring the pain, and voices, and screaming, and lights until the only thing left in her reality was that ever present beeping.

And it was slowing down.

Her mind became sharper again as her pulse slowed to crawl, and she was irrationally terrified of what would happen when the beeping ended. It was only go start again when her body revived itself, right? That was what Ajins did, and it happened before. She had no reason to be scared.

Except if it stopped, then she would come back to life without help. And they would know she was one of those monsters. And these twenty minutes of torture would become hours. And those hours would be daily. And those days would span over years for the rest of her immortal life. _That_ was where her terror stemmed from.

She didn't want to watch herself flatline, and with the last of her strength, turned her head away to stare at the empty corner at the far side of the room. Except it was so empty, and she squinted a little to make out the little clump of shifting black sand, vaguely wondering if it was there in preparation to heal her. That was what it did when the car had hit her.

That sand was the thing that would seal her fate.

No one else seemed to see it, or notice her fascinated expression as it grew larger. Pieces of the sand seemed to be coming from her and flowing to it, shaping it into something alarmingly familiar.

She'd seen it once before, and it had terrified her to the point she'd mostly repressed the memory, but it came flowing back as that same unbridled fear began to suffocate her.

It was only about her height, and was very thin at the waist, with long spindly limbs ending in large talons. Its head was mostly rounded and small in comparison to it's ribcage.

The thing was completely silent as it suddenly came up behind the doctor doing the majority of the torturing, and in one swing of its arm, tore his torso in half with it's claws.

The room immediately fell into panic as the sand demon knocked the table of weapons across the room in what seemed like an absurdly calm manner, then started to stalk toward the next nearest doctor.

 _It's going to kill them all_.. She squirmed, but her bindings held fast, so she did the only other thing she could think to. "STOP!"

It froze in place, seeming to be waiting for some sort of direction, though she couldn't think of what the proper thing to tell it would be before the sprinkler system in the room went off. It lifted its head to look at the ceiling before crumbling to dust.

Mirai let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and closed her eyes, trying to get the image of the man being torn in half only a few inches away from her out of her head.

She had no warning at all before the bullet was put through her temple.

* * *

He was clearly impatient and agitated at the thought of an Ajin, especially a young teenage girl who had only just learned what she truly was, having escaped so easily. Konan wanted to reassure him, but she doubted there was much she could say to calm him down until the Ajin was at least sighted again. So she merely stayed silently at his side, keeping her gaze cool as she surveyed the absolute chaos of the police station. People were rushing to and fro, shouting orders, making phone calls.. She could hardly hear herself think. She was sure the erratic atmosphere and cacophony of noise wasn't improving Nagato's mood any either.

Sure enough, after another half hour, he lost his patience and started toward the captain's desk. Tsunade was busy speaking to one of the higher ranked members of her forces, and after a moment, Konan recognized him as the man with the black ponytail she'd seen earlier. She didn't hear anything they said though, as their conversation came to an abrupt halt when her and Nagato approached.

"Isn't there any new information yet?"

Tsunade shook her head with a grimace. "No, none yet I'm afraid.."

"Surely it couldn't have gotten that far?"

Konan fought back the urge to frown at Nagato's tone, and the fact he'd referred to the Ajin as an 'it', even when she understood his feelings toward Ajin.

Tsunade sighed and interlaced her fingers, leaning forward on her elbows and resting her chin on her hands. "Not on foot, no.. But if she'd found a vehicle of some sort, who knows how much distance she could have covered.. Shikamaru and I were just discussing that, in fact."

Shikamaru looked noticeably uncomfortable at being put on the spot. "She does know how to drive motorcycles," he admitted.

Tsunade looked like she was going to say something, but was distracted when her phone went off and she immediately picked up.

Konan listened as intently as she could, and knew Nagato would be too, though it was far too loud to hear what the person on the other line was saying. Tsunade herself looked like she could hardly hear and had to plug her other ear to concentrate on the single voice better. She noticed that Shikamaru seemed to be evaluating her again, and she bit the post of her lip ring out of nervous habit. After a quick glance at him out of the corner of her eye, she noticed he seemed to be looking at Nagato the same way and mentally cursed herself for being so paranoid.

Tsunade hung up the phone then and turned to Nagato. "That was Jiraiya, a former colleague of mine, as he's now part of the FBI forces. They got a tip about Sarutobi Mirai, and it seems she's been captured and is under containment of Japan's government."

Nagato sighed in relief at that, but that didn't surprise Konan in the least. She was far more interested in taking a mental note of how Shikamaru had tensed and seemed to be struggling to keep an empty expression.

* * *

When Mirai woke, she found herself still tied to the metal surface, but something was very different. Everything was black as pitch around her, and she could sense walls surrounding her closely on all sides. It gave her the image of a coffin and she shuddered.

It took her a few minutes to calm her mind, and she tried to think of some way to get herself out of this mess - no - this nightmare.

No ideas came to her at all, at least, not rational ones. Her heart twisted, and she blinked against the tears that had suddenly sprung to her eyes.

 _I wish big brother Shika was here.. He would know what to do_..

But he wasn't, and she was all alone, trapped in a corpse drawer while unable to move or think of any way out, and she was crying like a little bitch over it.

 _It's only been a few minutes and I'm giving up already? Pull yourself together Mirai.. What would Father think of you?_

She struggled against the straps on her upper body, nearly wrenching her shoulder out of her socket but she didn't even care in the least. The bandages started to slip a little, and provided just the tiniest bit of slack in the bindings. She wriggled with renewed vigor when she felt the slightest more movement.

Five minutes later she'd managed to free one wrist and fell still, panting for breath in the small enclosed space.

 _I just need to free one arm, and the rest will be easy.._

 _Then what? Just walk out of a heavily guarded government building? Not get spotted by the cameras and guards? How are you going to manage that?_

Mirai shoved the cynical thoughts away and focused one freeing herself from the elbow strap.

She didn't get the chance to finish undoing it when the sound of rapid gunshots outside caught her attention. She froze and listened intently, curious as to what was going on out there. It fell silent after a few minutes, and she held her breath, waiting for the next noise which turned out to be the door to the room she was in opening.

Mirai bit the inside of her mouth and didn't move, hoping her heart didn't sound as loud as it did in her ears.

Terror surged through her when the drawer she was one opened and began to slide out; white light streaming directly into her eyes and blinding her. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the worst.

The silence was broken by a dry laugh and a familiar voice saying, "Open your eyes, we're leaving."

Her eyes shot open in surprise, and just as she'd thought, there was Danzo, while Itachi was a few feet away by the door, listening for approaching footsteps. He held an assault rifle at his side, and Danzo had one strapped to his back.

"What are you doing here..?" she asked; confusion clouded her mind as Danzo undid the straps on her arms, and she quickly started doing the rest herself.

"We're breaking you out, obviously. I thought that much would be clear."

A part of her thought it was, but there was a distinct feeling of unease in the pit of her stomach as she sat up and pulled the gauze on her face down to hang at her neck.

"Yes, but.. How did I end up here..?"

"It seemed the government must have found your trail, most likely from our brief phone call, and they followed you to our meeting place. Some of them got away with you before we could anything. My apologies for that. It won't happen again."

She remembered how he'd glanced at something over her shoulder and felt her unsettlement worsen.

"Come on, we should go before more of the guards get here. From the looks of it, you've been through one of their experiments. Not something you want to go through again, right?"

Absently, she replied, "No.. Never.." Her mind was racing.

He seemed pleased by the answer. "Good, it won't happen again. I'm sure we can get this place shut down in the very near future.." Danzo gripped the handle of the gun on his back and brought it into a readied position.

Mirai glanced to her right at the shelving unit she'd been in, noticing the bold black number 003 labeling it. Itachi had been 001. She gripped the edge of the table top she was one until her knuckles were white at the thought of 002.

She was distracted though when Itachi spoke up, "They are coming."

"Great. Here, you'll need this," Danzo told her, pulling a pistol from a holster on his belt and handing it to her.

She took it numbly out of instinct, biting her tongue to keep from commenting on how he hadn't sounded as if he'd said 'great' sarcastically.

Mirai stood and started toward the door after them, though paused and gestured back to the shelf 002. "What about him..?"

Danzo merely smirked. "That won't be necessary quite yet. That's plan B."

"What's plan A..?"

"I'm sure by now the police and news stations are out there, don't you think? Plan A is to give them a good talk, and make a few demands about Ajin rights. And if they don't listen to reason, well.."

"You resort to slaughter.." Mirai finished bluntly.

"Yes, more or less."

She was about to retort, but Itachi raised his gun from the doorway and opened fire. There were a few returning shots, but he had the better cover, and with a few piercing screams, the gunfight ceased.

Mirai looked down at the pistol in her hand and felt sick. _Is my comfort really worth all their lives..? Maybe I deserve to be here.. I might not have killed anyone, but._. The Black Ghost tearing the doctor in half seared through her mind, and she grimaced. _I am like them_..

 _At least if I get out, their deaths won't be in complete vain.. I can tell Shikamaru what's happening.. He'll be able to do something.._

Mind made up, she forced herself to put on a stony expression as she followed the other two Ajin out of the room, feeling a brief sense of relief at shutting the heavy metal door on what was in the remaining shelving unit.

It didn't last long though, being as soon as they made their around the first corner, they were met with another group of resisting soldiers, and she could only turn her head away and try not to get sick at how easily they were mowed down by the assault rifles without a second thought.

They went down two flights of stairs before the next group of guards were encountered, and they'd clearly had much more time to prepare, having built themselves a barricade of shelves and crates to hunker down behind.

Mirai started to turn away, not wanting to watch, but a lamented map posted on the wall by the stairwell caught her attention. _There's an emergency fire escape on the other side of the building_..

Glancing at the two Ajin to make sure they were distracted, she ran down the hall that their backs were to, and turned the first corner there was in case one glanced back, then made a beeline for the opposite end of the establishment.

She was relieved to not meet any resistance on the way there; it seemed all the guards were blocking the main exits and hadn't thought of the fire escape.

Mirai shoved the window open and stepped out onto the platform, feeling a bit lightheaded at seeing how far up she was. It didn't help that it was the middle of the night, the darkness making the distance below her even greater. She began to descend the steps as quickly as she could, taking note of the red and blue lights she saw reflecting from the other side of the building, and knowing there was indeed a police force waiting just outside the main entrance. She was even more glad she hadn't followed Danzo straight out there; if Shikamaru was there and saw her with them, she hated to think what he'd assume of her. _Would he be wrong though..?_

It took her nearly ten minutes to reach the bottom, and she stopped to catch her breath, wondering what her next course of action should be.

Avoiding the crowd gathered in the street was the top priority, so she immediately turned and ran along the wall of the building to take cover in its shadow before breaking away from it when she came to a small treeline to hide beneath. The surrounding area was eerily empty, but she was grateful for it, and was able to easily continue putting more and more distance between herself and the structure very rapidly.


	4. Chapter 4

She wanted to comfort him more than anything, to put her hand on his and assure him everything would be _fine_ , she would _always_ be there for him, they would figure this out _together_.

But that would make things worse right now, it was the worst possible time for her to say such things. So she kept her hands folded firmly in her lap and her eyes to the floor.

After a moment, Nagato broke the unbearably tense silence, "How could things go so wrong in only a few days..?"

Konan figured it was a rhetorical question and only offered a quiet, "I'm sorry.."

"They had her.. And they let her get away.. When she has an IBM.. And not only that, two other Ajin are now on the loose, and they made those ridiculous demands on national live television.. The whole _world_ is going to see that, and _no one_ is going to give them what they want.. They're going to attack people over it.. Japan and our Ajin are going to become targets of every major country.. _How_ could things _possibly_ go so wrong..?"

 _Is giving basic human rights to Ajin really so ridiculous..?_ Konan thought.

"I'm sorry," she murmured.

"It doesn't matter. We just need to capture them before anyone else does."

* * *

Mirai struggled to catch her breath after the long descent of the fire escape followed by the sprint to the small woods nearby, and getting her thoughts in order was an even more difficult task.

But that could wait; most importantly of all, she had to get as far from that building and the crowd outside it as she could.

As she followed the forest away from the events taking place in front of the News cameras and shocked bystanders, she came to a suburb like area of the city with tiny backyards, and after a little while of searching, she managed to find a clothesline with laundry hanging on it to dry overnight that appeared to have dried off already. It only took a few minutes to grab some of the clean clothes from the line and disappear back into the woods to tear off the bloodied bandages and replace them with a presentable outfit. Other than the fact they were a size too big for her, which she covered up a little by rolling up the pants' legs and throwing on a hoodie that had been among the laundry, she figured she would be able to be relatively safe if someone caught only a quick glimpse of her from afar, especially if she pulled up the hood.

She felt guilty for stealing the clothes, and the motorcycle before, but it wasn't something that could be helped. She couldn't very well ask for the clothes, and even if she could have walked into a store, she didn't have any money with her, or any possessions other than Danzo's handgun for that matter.

However, she was about to feel even guiltier in a moment.

She needed a getaway vehicle, that was for certain. And she didn't have much time to search or afford being picky either. No motorcycles were to be seen, and though she felt more comfortable driving them, it was probably for the best. She'd already been known to have stolen one before and it was by no means a safe transportation option when trying not to be seen, shot, or run off the road.

Mirai stopped by a house with a light brown mini van and started to move on, but doubled back to reconsider. It wasn't exactly fast, sure, but no one would expect a mini van as a getaway car for one person, would they? And it wouldn't be an easy car to knock off the road, and it could probably handle off road decently enough.

She tried the door handle; unlocked.

 _At least I don't have to break the window._.

Mirai slipped into the driver's seat, then felt realization slam into her. She needed the key.

She glanced out the windshield at the quiet, dark house and bit her lip. Breaking and entering wasn't something she wanted to do at all, but none of these cars were going to have their keys in them like the motorcycle had, and a car was a necessity.

Leaving the car door open, Mirai carefully approached the front door and pulled her hood down a little lower; she didn't see any security cameras, but it was better safe than sorry. Hesitantly, she reached out and tried the door handle. Locked. Obviously they were more cautious with their house than their car. Next she tried the windows next to the door, but they stuck fast. She started loosing her nerve, debating about trying a different house or attempting to make a getaway with no vehicle at all. Taking a deep breath, she decided one more try at one of the side windows.

The one she chose was a bit higher off the ground and was smaller than the front windows, and she jumped up to grab the sill before slowly pulling herself up to peer inside. The bathroom; dark and empty. She hauled herself higher up onto the sill until she was resting all her weight on her elbows, then shifted it all to one and used the other to push the window up. It didn't budge at first either, but after shifting her position a little to get better leverage, it came unstuck and shoved halfway open.

Sighing in relief, she pushed it the rest of the way open and lifted herself to put a knee on the sill, rotating her body on the narrow space much like a cat before sliding backwards into the room and landing nearly silently next to the white metal bathtub.

The bathroom door was open to inky blackness of the hallway and she decided to stay there for several moments until her eyes had adjusted to the low light after having been out under the nearly full moon and street lamps.

Cautiously, she crept toward the doorway and glanced both way down the hall, seeing no one and heading toward the front door. She hoped the keys would be on some sort of hook or in a little basket next to the door.

Mirai used the wall as a guide with her fingertips lightly brushing against it as she watched the floor for any obstacles she might trip over, freezing and feeling her heart stop at every creaky floorboard she stepped on. She strained to hear for footsteps or sleep-roused mumbles, but the house remained silent each time.

Every second in the hall felt like an hour, and she was almost certain someone would wake up for a trip to the bathroom or fridge on her slow trek, but no one did, and soon she was at the front door, heart in her throat at the sight of no hooks and no basket.

The kitchen was the next room over, and she prayed to have better luck there. By then, panic had been setting in and she crossed this space much quicker and less cautiously than the hall, only grimacing and continuing on when the floor groaned at her weight.

Moonlight filtered in through the kitchen window better than the bathroom had, so seeing was a bit less of a struggle, and she could scan through and move about the room much faster. At one side there was a large stainless steel fridge that reflected the light sharply; it was almost blinding. The rest of that wall, as well as the adjacent and opposite walls were covered by counters and cupboards, both low and high, with a double sink and dishwasher beneath, an oven a little further down. A long rectangular table dominated the center of the room.

The table was empty other than a vase of flowers in the center, and the counters only had cooking utensils and some cereal boxes adorning it. The walls were bare except for a clock and still life painting of fruits and a rose bouquet. No hooks, no basket, no keys.

Frustration welled up inside her, and she whirled around to return to the bathroom and leave; she'd wasted far too much time here and it seemed she wouldn't be able to find the keys, but a noise that sounded like it was at the hall caught her attention and she froze, straining to hear it again to see if she'd been mistaken. No, she definitely heard the floorboards creak again, closer now.

Her mind shut down on her; she just held her breath, feeling her heart beat against her ribcage, and stared - wide-eyed - at the kitchen doorway. A silhouette appeared at the doorway and the lights flicked on, and Mirai flinched at the sudden brightness that slammed into her retinas.

The figure turned out to be a woman; she looked to be about in her early thirties with dark eyes and long curly black hair. Their eyes locked, and instinctively the woman opened her mouth to say something, but the fear that it would be to scream or call for her husband drove Mirai into action.

Her hand went straight for the gun in her jacket, and she pointed it at the woman's head. She had absolutely no intentions of using it, but she just _needed_ her to stay quiet or everything would fall apart.

"Don't make a sound, and I won't hurt you.." Her voice was low, and shook when she said it, but the woman closed her mouth and nodded. Mirai felt her resolve waver at the sight of the poor lady's eyes watering in fear.

"All I want is your car keys.. Just please give them to me, and I'll leave.."

The woman nodded again, shakily, and very softly replied, "I'll have to go get them.."

"Okay.. I'll follow you.. Just don't say anything.."

The lady turned around and walked out of the room at a slow pace, keeping the floorboards quiet as Mirai followed behind her. She lowered the gun a little now that her back was turned; she didn't have the heart to keep it pointed at her head.

They came to a bedroom a few doors down the hall from the bathroom, and Mirai waited outside as the woman disappeared inside, listening carefully for any voices or sounds that could be alerting someone else in the room. But everything was silent, and she returned a few moments later with a keychain that had a single key on it.

Mirai slowly extended her hand to take it, she didn't want to alarm her with any quick movements, then murmured a quiet, "Thank you" before retreating to the bathroom and climbing back out the window. She'd wanted to ask her not to call the police, or at least to wait until morning, but that was ridiculous. Of course she would call as soon as she could, it wasn't like she'd be here to stop her.

As soon as she landed on the grass outside, she sprinted to the car and practically jumped inside, then closed the door a bit slower to keep it from making too much noise. She inserted the key into the ignition and turned; the car engine wasn't too loud at least, and made a quick attempt at adjusting the mirrors before pulling out of the drive and starting down the street in the opposite direction of the building.

Mirai kept expecting to hear sirens after her already, but no red and blue lights appeared in the rearview mirrors, and after ten minutes had passed, and she'd left the suburb area behind to an open road with dense trees on one side and a guard rail protecting from a steep drop into more forest on the other, she began to relax a little and catch her breath. she had no idea where she was going, or where she could go, and she really couldn't bother herself to try and think about it. She wouldn't find any good answer, so there was no point in stressing herself out worse over it. She'd just stop and hide out at wherever she ran out of gas, she supposed.

She soon started to grow uncomfortable with the silence though, and turned on the radio to quietly play in the background. No music came on though, instead a breaking news report sounded through the speakers. Her blood went cold and she had to turn the volume up a bit to hear over the background noise of a talking crowd and the beating of helicopter blades.

".. _explain what is going on here, Mr. Shimura?_ " a female reporter's voice she couldn't recognize was asking.

Danzo's voice replied, " _Well, this certainly wasn't the way I'd hoped for anyone to find out, especially not the press, but as you can probably assume with Mr. Uchiha standing here next to me, I must admit that I am an Ajin, and have known so for a while_."

The background crowd suddenly sounded even more uneasy.

 _This was exactly how you wanted it to be found out_.. _On national TV and News_..

He continued, " _As for the reason we're here, there's something I've wanted to say for a long time now, and this seems like a good opportunity, being how I have your rapt attention.. I demand from the government a law to be passed for Ajin rights, to be granted citizenship and allowed to walk freely among the humans, for the cruel and unjust treatment that goes on in these facilities to be stopped. There are Ajin experimentation going on here, and it's not even for the good of humankind. It's simply for their twisted fascination of seeing how many times they can kill a helpless, trapped being. If, however, my demands are not agreed with, well.. I suggest keep watch on Ajin .net. I'll give a more detailed explanation there_.."

Their earlier conversation in the shelf room came to mind.

 _"What's plan A..?"_

 _"I'm sure by now the police and news stations are out there, don't you think? Plan A is to give them a good talk, and make a few demands about Ajin rights. And if they don't listen to reason, well.."_

 _"You resort to slaughter.."_

 _"Yes, more or less."_

She felt sick, and turned off the radio.

Hiding didn't feel like the right thing to do at all..

* * *

Today was the kind of day he didn't want to get out of bed. His alarm had went off nearly ten minutes ago, but he hadn't mustered the energy to move yet, let alone get up. He knew he had to, else he'd get a much ruder awakening from Temari. She'd mostly returned to her usual self since Shikadai had returned, looking dazed and not even remembering where he'd been, though Shikamaru had noticed she'd been more aggressive lately; he wasn't surprised. It was her natural defense mechanism to hide her worry and anxiety over Shikadai's disappearance, and Mirai's predicament.

Yesterday still weighed heavy on his mind, and he hadn't been able to sleep much last night. All the events kept turning over and over in his mind, and no solution presented itself.

A part of him was glad Mirai had escaped, but if she was caught again, she was in even worse trouble than before. The entire police station was in absolute panic to the point of complete breakdown; even Captain Tsunade could hardly get control of her own subordinates. By now word had spread to the other countries of Japan's Ajin situation, and it was only a matter of time before they took action.

 _And then that video_..

Danzo's terms of Ajin rights weren't pleasant. The government would never agree to let Ajin walk among humans and lead normal lives; other countries would seek to capture them for war, and having them out and about would make that too easy. And Ajin had the capability of being too dangerous; the things everyone knew that they were capable of and feared.. And worse, the fear people held of what they _didn't_ know about them yet.

However, if his terms weren't met, Danzo had produced a list of important Japanese government officials; the people who ran the whole country and kept everything in order, and he threatened to assassinate them all if his demands weren't met. It was a bold claim, and would be difficult to accomplish, even for an Ajin. But guards and high security had immediately been placed on all the people whose name had appeared on that list.

Shikamaru closed his eyes and sighed. There wasn't much point thinking about it; this was all beyond him anyways. He didn't have any sort of power or influence enough to make any difference even if he did know what to do.

He sat up in bed, stretching and yawning, and attempting to summon the courage to stand up to go downstairs when his cell phone on the night stand buzzed.

He picked it up and frowned when it showed and unknown caller, but picked up anyways and put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Shika, it's me. Look, I really need to talk to you in person right now, and-"

Shikamru's eyes widened a bit and he interrupted, "Wait, Mirai? Where are you right now?"

"Some little gas station just outside Yoshida. Don't worry, it's deserted other than the clerk inside and I'm calling you on a pay phone. But please, you have to get here and help me figure this all out, I don't know what to-"

"Alright, alright.. I'll figure out how to get there, just hold on and stay out of sight, okay?"

"Yeah, I.. I can do that. I'll stay just a bit down from the gas station; you'll know it when you see it if you leave from the South side of Yoshida. I'll stay off the road too, and I'll just keep lookout for you."

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't hold your breath though, I might be a while.."

"Just as long as you get here, that's good enough for me."

Shikamaru said a quick goodbye and ended the call, rubbing his forehead before standing up and heading for the closet to change.

* * *

Tsunade glared over her desk at the utter chaos the station was in; everyone was in such a panicked rush to get everything done, that nothing was getting done at all. Nagato Uzumaki had obviously been disappointed and frustrated with the state of her police branch when he'd left to get some rest after the trying day, and Konan Ame had drifted out after him like a ghost.

She'd tried several times to get things back in proper working order, but with new updates and orders being given from other sources, such as the FBI and Nagato's Ajin Unit, it was really a lost cause. The only ones who'd seemed to be able to keep their heads on straight through it all were herself, Shizune, Nagato, Konan, and Shikamaru. And worse, Shikamaru hadn't shown up today, and Nagato and Konan were late. It was early in the morning still, sure, but they should have been here half an hour ago.

Shizune approached Tsunade's desk carefully, she could see the foul mood she was in from miles away, and knew she would have to tread carefully or risk setting her off. She cleared her throat to get the Captain's attention from the death glare she was casting at her subordinates, and hoped her voice was steady when that look was turned onto her.

"I have an update report.." she offered, probably barely audible over the noise of the others, but Tsunade saw the papers in her hands and already figured out what they were anyways.

She sighed heavily and held out her hand to accept them, quickly scanning through them, and was irritated to find it was the same as the last report. Still no sign of all three of their missing Ajin. The last page of the report did catch her attention though.

The United States were taking action, and were reported to be moving in. If they caught the missing Ajin first, Japan would take quite a blow.

Tsunade didn't know what she was supposed to do about this. This was more the government's area, or at very least the FBI's or the Ajin Unit's.

"What should we do?" Shizune asked hesitantly.

Tsunade scowled and gestured sharply at what was on the other side of the window of her office. "There's nothing we can do!"

* * *

There wasn't much time to visit, so they didn't go into his room.

Konan's hands were clasped together in front of her and she kept her head down so she didn't have to look through the window; coming here made her feel sick, and it was the one place she allowed herself to show her weakness, though only a little.

The slow but steady beep of an electrocardiograph was the only noise from the room, and that's the way it had been for so long now.

They'd only been 15 when they been the unfortunate victims of a small town in Japan that had been targeted by an Ajin named Hanzo; he'd destroyed nearly the entire place before being captured by the English. Nagato had been injured when shrapnel had impaled his back, but had miraculously survived. His body never fully recovered, and he still had moments of muscle weakness and illness. Yahiko was left in a coma, and he had been for 20 years now. He was most likely never going to wake up again, but Nagato refused to remove him from life support.

And Konan got out of the incident without a single scratch, if you didn't want to take emotional wounds into account. She usually didn't, and the thought of not having been physically injured at all while her friends were put through such pain made her internally hate herself. She wished she had their injuries, that she'd gotten the worst of it all. It _wouldn't have even mattered_ if it had been her. But no, life wasn't that kind, and it had to be them.

Neither her or Nagato had said a word during their visit, but she was brought out of her thoughts when he finally turned away from the window. "Come on, Tsunade's probably waiting on us."

Konan nodded, and glanced once more at Yahiko before turning away and following after Nagato like a loyal shadow.


End file.
